#kitchen craft

@when-november-ends tagged me in this and they were so right because my roommate and I frequently host dinner parties. For this one I will make it fall themed.

Starting off we have the setting and I have lots of old mismatched plates and glassware. The room would be lit with candles and the dying sunlight streaming in from the large windows. The room is decorated with foliage, pumpkins, and vintage Halloween decorations from the 90s.

Next we have the menu:

Roast beef and potatoes are my absolute favorite on a cold fall evening. I'd pair it with either the acorn squash white cheddar Mac and cheese pictured above or my grandma's butternut squash. I'd also have this vegetable tart with ricotta cheese. And, as any meal I make, sautéed radishes.

As much as I love dessert I'm not much of a baker but I'd try my hand at snickerdoodles, apple pie, or apple cake.

The fireplace would be lit and music playing on our record player. We'd settle down with crafts and a scary movie afterwards.

Round pies - spirituality

Square pies - prosperity

Apple pie - love, healing, peace 

Apricot pie - peace

Banana cream pie - money

Blackberry pie - protection

Chess (custard) pie- spirituality

Chocolate cream pie - money, love

Coconut cream pie - spirituality

Cherry pie - love

Key lime pie - love, purification

Lemon pie - purification, love

Mince pie - “lucky,” money

Peach pie - love, healthy, happiness, wisdom

Pecan pie - money

Pineapple pie - love, healing, money, protection

Pumpkin pie - Money, healing

Raspberry pie - happiness, love, protection

Rhubarb pie - protection, love

Strawberry pie - love

Hey witchy Tumblr, I want to bake something for my partner to help him with his confidence and self-love (I have his permission to do this). I’m having a hard time finding things with correspondences for those things, so I wanted to see what other folks have used in similar workings before. All suggestions welcome. :)

Potions are probably one thing that almost everyone thinks of when they hear the words “witch” or “magic”, and with good reason.  For a long time witches used plants prepared properly to treat disease, which eventually became the modern practice of medicine.  Potions are a form of magic very close to science, which makes me love them, as I am a big fan of both.

These days I’m not as inclined to get willow bark when I can get aspirin easily, but I still use some potions for both their effects, and their taste.  By this of course I mean teas.  There are dozens of types of teas with more uses than I know or can possibly fit in this post (foreshadowing!) so I’ll just talk about my personal favorite tea as an example.

Almost daily I drink a green tea with a few mint leaves mixed, and a little honey if I want something sweet.  The green tea I use mainly for its metabolism boosting properties and caffeine, although I also like the energy and healing properties it has magically.  The mint is use for its calming magical properties, and sometimes for its more scientific stomach settling properties.  Finally the honey is mostly for flavor and a little protein in case the tea is my breakfast, and I’ll usually use it to draw either a sigil for peace or luck into my tea depending on what I need that day.  I much prefer to use loose leaf, but I’ll use premade tea bags if i’m in a hurry.

This is one that’s tough to really put much of a “manly” spin on, since tea is a very unisex thing to begin with, but for the naysayers:  Many warrior cultures drank tea before battles, either as a form of offering and honor as with the samurai, or to try and boost their abilities as with the viking berserkers.  If you desperately need it too be as manly as possible, leave out the honey and it’ll be about as bitter as coffee.

I grew up celebrating Winter Solstice in both a Celtic and Heathen sense, from a long-running family of generational witches, all practicing different pagan paths. With the holiday, comes a tradition that is unique to my family, but one that I hold dear, and I wanted to share it with you all.

Every year on the morn of the twenty-first of December (I live in the Northern Hemisphere), my family sits down at breakfast at the table. On the plate is an array of cookies! We spent all week together baking these cookies, and now, we’re allowed to enjoy the fruits of our labor. This tradition was how my family passed down all our cookie recipes, with their spells included. Just for one day of the year, dessert was breakfast, and it was super exciting for all of us. Right alongside our cookies, instead of coffee or juice, we have a cup of our homemade, spiced hot cocoa!

Originally this recipe started out as a stove-top, one-cup recipe, that was passed down my mother’s side of the family from kitchen witch to kitchen witch until the nineteen-thirties. Around this time, rationing started, and chocolate became scarce. My family adapted by making powdered versions, which they experimented with until the fifties, when Nesquik and powdered creamer were released. Every generation since has made little tweeks, until we reached our current form. The recipe has looked relatively similar since the sixties, and is now passed down from generation to generation on my mother’s side.

Any time I take a sip, I am reminded of all the witches I grew up with, of being a little kid standing on my tip toes to reach the top of the container my mom held steady, to pour the ingredients in. Now that I’m an adult, on my own and far from my family, it’s a welcome reminder of the warmth and love my mother passed down to me, and of her favorite time of year. It’s a tradition that I never go without.

So I thought I’d share the hot cocoa recipe with you all, because it’s family-friendly, fairly child-proof, and was my introduction to kitchen magic at the tender age of three. It’s super easy for little hands that are still working on their motor skills, and can be sized down or up with relative ease. It brings in the warmth, has that sweetness that comes with a little love (and sugar if you wish), and is just overall my favorite tradition from my family. As an added bonus, the ingredients generally cost less than fifteen United States dollars, and this recipe will last a long time (mine lasts me all year, but I don’t have kids).